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jmcalandrillo
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Name: Jonathan
Country: United States
State: Illinois
Metro: Bloomington-Normal
Birthday: 6/11/1985
Gender: Male
Interests: I enjoy spending time with God through prayer and reading the Bible, building stronger relationships and making new ones, weightlifting, running, playing Ultimate Frisbee, motorcycles (especially Harley-Davidson), being involved on campus and in the community.
Expertise: Math and Science, Engineering, making friends, taking initiative, being a leader, hanging out with friends. :)
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  JMCalandrillo
MSN: jmcalandrillo
Yahoo:  jmcalandrillo
Member Since:
2/23/2005
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| Ok....so it's been quite some time since I updated..quite some time! Well, for starters, it's obvious that I've once again changed my color schemes. For anyone who decides to read this...if the scheme bothers your eyeballs just lemme know and I'll do my bast to find one that's not so abusive! Now...for the real updates!
When I last wrote I was talking about the ISU Solar Car. Well, we managed to get it down to Texas..and we even managed to pass initial inspections! However, a few hours before final inspections we were troubleshooting our motor and it blew up! kaboom!! Threw a magnet and chomped it all up...nom nom nom! We had no back up and had to pull out of the race. We cried. End of story! Actually, we did cry...but we also got to display the car along w/ all the others in Plano, TX that weekend and had a nice trip back to Normal. That trip taught us alot about ourselves, being a team, and planning ahead! Didn't turn out quite the way we all had planned, and I STILL haven't been to Canada, but knowing the results ahead of time, I still would go back and do it again!!
Once re-settled in Bloomington/Normal I started looking for another job! And right before school started I got hired to do oil changes and tire work at Clay Dooley Tire and Auto on Vernon Ave. here in Bloomington!!!! I really like the work and it's probably the best job I've ever had! Keeps me really busy though...work starts at 7:30 every morning and I go straight from work to class! I spend most of my day in a mechanic's outfit! I'm also on a schedule where I work 2 outta 3 weekends...so my schedule goes 6days/6days/5days. Those 6day weeks can be kinda rough...but they make the 5day weeks all the better!! I think so far I've been able to make the most out of every weekend off...and this weekend should be no exception!! Oh..and I'm flat broke...so I'm working 10hrs per week at Taco Bell still. My weekly work hours (on a 3wk schedule) go 41/41/33. AND I'm still in school full-time...
School full-time....yay!? I'm on my parents' insurance again...so that is definitely nice. Also, 2 of my credit hours are for the work I did on the solar car over the summer...so I have an automatic A and no more work is required. However, the 10hrs I do have to do work on are pretty much killer! Especially since I'm working full time and trying to have a regular life as well. Suffice it to say, where I'm almost positive I'm not in any danger of going below a Cumulative 2.0GPA...this could possibly be one of my lowest semester GPA's ever. But...I think I'll squeak by...I hope. Which will put me one semester away from finally graduating ISU....if I can come up with the money....
The money....Yeah...Money was never an issue for me as a young kid. I started saving at the youngest of ages! On my birthday I'd ask my parents for cash instead of gifts and then I'd put the cash into a savings account. My siblings would all go to the store and buy toys/candy/etc. and I'd chose to sit out and save my money for a car or something important when I'm older. Then, when I was 15, we found out about eBay. Somehow my money-handling skills went downhill fast...and I've been on an up-and-down financial journey ever since. Well, right now I'm at a BIG down! I've got quite a bit of debt...and I still owe ISU $1,000+ to cover this semester's tuition BEFORE I can even REGISTER for next (my final) semester! I've already taken out the federal loan...and the couple private places I've glanced at declared me ineligible right off the bat for some reason. I know my credit's good...I think it has something to do w/ the financial crisis or whatnot! I really wanna finish though...If I can't afford next semester, then I'll have to wait a whole 'nother year seeing as how the classes I need are only offered in the Spring! That means taking 7yrs to graduate on top of not getting to graduate w/ my friends...
My friends...Wow! That's a pretty crazy story in and of itself. My former group of friends have started to spread out as everyone graduates, moves away, and "grows up". There has also been some stress amongst the group I considered my close friends the past couple of years. I have hope that things will settle back down to the healthy, happy level...but it's kinda like we're in the transition phase right now. BUT...God has blessed me w/ involvement in a new campus ministry AND reconnecting w/ a very good friend of mine!! I'm now involved in the ministry called MOSAIC. It's goal is to be a ministry especially to students and young people. We have house church on Sunday late-afternoons and on-campus fellowship/teaching Wednesday nights! We also spend quite a bit of time just fellowshipping on the weekends and even throughout the week when schedules allow! I'm finally starting to feel that maybe I've found a place where I belong....
Belong...hmmm....Where do we belong? Well, first and foremost we belong to God. Our relationship with him should be the biggest focus of our life! Secondly, we belong to our families. Even if we feel outta place with them, there's something inherently special about families! Thirdly, we belong in the specific plan God has for us. And that's kinda what I'm talking about now! I've gotta get to class...so I gotta cut this short. But, for the short version, I'm really starting to consider volunteer work w/ college ministry! I've always wanted to witness through normal interactions with people...and I love the whole college thing. Let's see where God leads!
I have a plan to prosper you...to give you a hope and a future! ~ God
His Peace!!
Jon Mark  | | |
| 5 Mercury II 5
What a day! I was in the shop from around 10:15am-8:15pm minus an hour lunch break. We got some work done...but probably not as much as we would have liked. The day started for me w/ the channel 19 news station located in Peoria, IL coming in to get a story on us. Our official press conference is tomorrow, but supposedly this was the only day they could be in town. One of the guys says that's a bunch of crap and that they just wanted to get the story first. Not sure...but the online article appears to have been written rather quickly as evidenced by all the errors. For your enjoyment, here it is.
Yesterday (Tuesday) I was asked to work a 10am-2pm shift by my GM at Taco Bell and the guys on the Solar Team said they had gotten enough done on the car Monday that they could spare me. So I worked a 10-2:30 shift but by the end of it I wasn't feeling too well. I ended up resting and running an errand or two, but didn't do any work on the car that day. When I came in today (Wednesday) they had both wings covered in the red Kevlar and painted over with the epoxy. The main body of the car had been taken off the sawhorses, the motor mount and the motor had been mounted, and several other "smaller" things had been accomplished.
Today's work included drilling wholes into the hinge components so we can lock them in place, attaching the hinge plates to the car, covering the canopy "bubble" in the red Kevlar, testing the motor, and various "smaller" tasks. Testing the motor was the kicker. We got it all wired up and tried to run it. The motor would either run very slowly, or the axle would rock back and forth like a wash machine agitator (like in the old top loaders). Dr. Clark realized that he had wired something backwards, so he fixed that and we tried again. The results were not much better. I'm pretty sure at least 2, maybe 3, hours were spent trying to figure out what was wrong. Unfortunately, everything seemed to be wired correctly. At the tail end of the night, Al found a piece of paper in the car and after looking at it Dr. Clark came to an awesome realization: We had forgotten to hook up the inductor! We're pretty sure/highly hoping that hooking up the inductor will cause the motor to work correctly. We couldn't figure out exactly how to hook it up, so we're waiting til morning to call the company and have them walk us through it. Let's pray this works because w/out a working motor, there's basically no Solar Challenge for us. On the bright side, if the inductor is the missing link, we'll be cutting it close on time, but we will still be in the race!!
Finish the drive, Mercury high five!!
His Peace!
Jon Mark  | | |
| 5 Mercury II 5
We had our first "serious" injury today. Ryan and Brian were up in the lab cutting the excess fiberglass off the solar cells. Ryan was holding the ruler down to guide Brian's exacto knife blade, and the blade accidentally slipped and cut Ryan's thumb. The section cut wasn't that big, but it was cut pretty deep. I had to take Ryan to the doctor's office where he got 2-3 stitches. Ryan is doing well and work continues.
On Saturday we all met up by 9 in the morning to put the tops on the wings. The epoxy set very quickly so we had three guys apply the epoxy to half the wing and then lay the top on. When that had set well enough, we had two guys hold up the unattached portion of the top while the three of us added epoxy to the other half and then laid the top back down. I left before most people since I hadn't slept the night before, but some of the guys stayed working until 8pm. I didn't really do much work today due to taking Ryan to the doctor's, so I'll have to see what progress was made when I get in tomorrow. They tops of the wings are supposed to have been covered in red Kevlar today...so I hope to see that tomorrow.
This week is gonna be packed with working on the car, working at Taco Bell, getting prepared for the trip, and trying to see a few people before I leave for 3wks! I need to try to leave time for sleep! So...I'm gonna go now!
Finish the drive, Mercury high five!!
His Peace!!
Jon Mark | | |
| So alot has happened since my last post. Probably on more of a personal level than a global one. But, at any rate, suffice it to say I had quite a few new experiences: some good, some not so good; and some old experiences as well. On February 15, 2008, I finally quit UPS!! I worked there for exactly 3yrs 5mos to the day!! It's been pretty enjoyable. I'm still working at Taco Bell, and a student loan is what covered my bills so that I could afford to quit UPS! I finished another semester w/ an acceptable GPA although it wasn't as high as I would like and I will have to re-take one class. Alot more has gone on but, if you can believe it, I actually don't feel like putting it all in here. Most of you that know me know most of what it is, most likely! So, on to the big news!
5 Mercury II 5So when I quit UPS, that opened up a little extra time for me to take a Physics elective. I chose to take Independent Study Physics 287 sec 13. The course: Helping to build a solar powered car. It was 2 credit hour class. I spent pretty much an average of 3-4hrs per week working in the model shop to help build the car. This is an actual working automobile. And, the most exciting part is, while the class ended at the end of the semester, the solar car project did not. We have been working on it all summer and July 5th we head down to Dallas, TX! We are going to race the car against over 20 other Universities in the North American Solar Challenge!! The race starts in Plano (Dallas), TX and ends in Calgary, Alberta, Canada!! The name of our car is Mercury II and it's number is the number 5. So, from here on till we return, this blog will be dedicated to the adventures of Team Mercury and the Mercury II solar car!! Finish the drive, Mercury high-five!! His Peace!! Jon Mark | | |
| So..on my last post I thought 2months was a long time between posts! Now it's been 8months! Wow...that's quite a bit of time for me! I dunno...I guess maybe I just haven't been in that much of the blogging mood...or I've been really busy...or just lazy when it comes to sitting down and typing a post (because I know they tend to be long and detailed!). Anyway...let's try to get 8months wrapped up fairly quickly!
Needless to say, my arm is not still broken! At the end of May I got released back to full duty and have been working UPS and Taco Bell unrestricted ever since! That doesn't mean my arm doesn't hurt sometimes...because it does. I wear an Ace bandage (elbow wrap) when I lift weights and I've had to bowl with lighter bowling balls sometimes as well. I'm contemplating seeing the doctor again sometime during break just to make sure everything's OK and to maybe get some advice on how to deal with it...but I don't know if I wanna spend the money!
Now I'll try to make things a bit more of summary...for the sake of you guys and myself (I really need to get to sleep  )! I finished Spring '07 pretty decently with an A in Weightlifting, a C in Chemistry, and an A in Physics 217!! That put my GPA in definite good standing and I was officially reinstated as a Physics Major at ISU! This semester I'm taking 3 Physics coarses, but one is a Pass/Fail requirement class. I'm doing decently well in 220...I should pass for sure...it's just a matter of the great (guessing a B) and in 240 I'm wondering exactly if I'll even pass. I could probably end up w/ a C if I do really well on these last two tests!
Work has definitely been fun! I'm still working both UPS and Taco Bell and over the summer I worked 35hrs/wk at Taco Bell and about 17-20 at UPS! That made for some swell times...especially when things were very stressful at both jobs! I'm now working about 20hrs at each...but with Christmas coming up Taco Bell let me reduce my hours to 4/wk so I can ride with the UPS drivers and help deliver packages the rest of the time! Getting along w/ co-workers can still be a struggle for me, especially at UPS, but God is showing me how I don't always need to be in control!
I'm no longer living in the house in Bloomington (sometimes refered to as Mos Eisley in much earlier posts)! Rent and bills were gonna go up and the roommate who owned the house only wanted me to live there with him (instead of having 2 people live with him). I decided that with the bills raised and the dynamics of our friendship that it wasn't really worth it for me to stay once the rates went up. So I moved to my parents garage (it's finshed with heat and a/c) for the summer. I never actually found a place during the summer so the semester started with me commuting once again. Then about half-way through I accidentally wrecked my car (minor...except for the price) and decided not to drive back and forth to Clinton anymore. So for the most part I've been sleeping in my car and when it gets really cold I'll stay in the lounge of Atkin/Colby or ask a friend if I can crash at their place! When school gets out I'll probably try to commute again, and I'll definitely try to find a good place in Bloomington/Normal ASAP!!
As far as church/spritual things/friends goes, I decided to start going to East White Oak Bible Church at the beginning of the summer. I still really liked HighPointe and especially the people, but there really wasn't anyone my age or any real ways for me to get involved outside of Sunday mornings. The Swansons and the rest of the group were really supportive of the decision and I do miss seeing them everyweek. But I think the college group at EWO has been really good for me. As far as spiritual growth, I think God is always working on me and trying to make me more of how I should be. I know I've had some rough times in my more "private life" and struggled in some ways I never really thought I would. God has however never left me and is helping me to realize that He always loves and forgives and that life is about honoring Him. And living correctly isn't just defined by outward actions, but even moreso by what goes on in our hearts and minds! I still struggle in quiet times and good prayer times and I'm trying to fix that! As far as friends goes, it almost seems like alot of my closs friends graduated...but I still have some of them right here! I've been noticing and realizing alot this semester (and I hope learning as well)! Friendships shouldn't be taken for granted and theres alot more to them than what maybe meets the eye! I think I tend to be too self-centered when I look at other people and their lives and even our friendship. I'm trying to learn to work on that. I dunno...my mind is full of lots of thoughts and seemingly confusion on these spiritual/frienship issues!
And for the final leg of the post: random compilitaion of some of the events of the last 8 months...hopefully in 30second trailer fashion! I spent alot of my summer hanging out w/ Andrew and Farmer City friends in the evening. I saw a Cubs/Cards game at Wrigley Field (Cards won!)! I went to Six Flags for the first time this summer...it was pretty fun! I hit a deer for the first time in July! I won tickets to the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill Soul2Soul Tour in Chicago in July! I saw a friend I hadn't seen in about 10yrs! I've gotten to have some great times hanging out w/ friends...mostly at the expense of sleep! I wrecked my car (minor) for the first time in October! I Played some great Ultimate w/ the ISU Gnomes! I got to go up to Aurora/Naperville and hang out w/ James for the beginning of Thanksgiving break and to Michigan to hang w/ our best friends for the end of break! I went to 3 weddings (filmed one)! I will be filming a friend's wedding New Years' Eve...it will be the first time I'm in charge of filming! And all the random little, simple moments that make life wonderful but can't be put in a list like this!!
Koth and I at the Cubs/Cards Game!!
Me and James in front of the Batmobile at Six Flags!!
Kate, Josh, Lydia, Me, and James at Six Flags!!
Me, Beth Schap, Andrew, Bryce, and Matt playing Life!! I won!
Me guarding an opponent during an Ultimate tournament!! (I think this was Western)
So yeah...there's my post! God is always the same and is always working to shape me into the man He wants me to be...although I've still got along way to go! Life, as a whole, is wonderful...but the details and struggles and annoyances can really get to me sometimes. I currently feel confused/wonder about certain things that go on in life or the way things are...but I'm trying to trust God and see things in His way! I think I'll end with two quotes this time!
Don't ever lie, steal, cheat, or drink. If you must lie, lie in the
arms of the one you love. If you must steal, steal away from bad
company. If you must cheat, cheat death. And if you must drink, drink
in the moments that take your breath away.
Will Smith - Hitch
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Psalm 23 - KJV
Now it's definitely past bedtime!
His Peace!!!!
Jon Mark
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